"John said he felt fine (Monday)," Stallings said. "He was symptom-free and they're going to let him do some running and shooting Tuesday. If everything goes well, and we kind of expect it to, he'll be able to practice on Wednesday.

"Andre's still awhile out. It's one of the worst (injuries) I've ever seen. He'll be down for awhile. I don't know what awhile is, but at this juncture, I'm hoping for a week or two. It could be more.

"It's a very significant ankle sprain. They've X-rayed it and it's not broken. He'll be out for a little while."

The Commodores return to practice Tuesday morning after getting the day off yesterday.

"So much for point guard being Vandy's weak link. Tinsley has really
come on lately for the undermanned Commodores. In a one-point win over
Marquette, he had 15 points and eight assists and hit a key bucket down
the stretch. In a larger-than-expected 80-52 blowout of Davidson, he
scored 14 and actually contributed 10 rebounds. Most importantly,
Tinsley turned it over just once in each game."

In his first season starting at the point, Tinsley tops the SEC in assists per game (5.2) and ranks third in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0). He also averages 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and leads the Dores with 15 steals.

"Andre sprained his ankle on Friday and then John got hit in the head (Saturday) in the first 30 minutes of practice.

"John left his feet on a shot fake and the guy jumped into him.

"(For Saturday's SEC opener), my best guess would be that John will be okay and that Andre won't be okay. Andre could be awhile.

"We would like to be full strength but it's part of it. You have to control the things you can control and that's out of your control ... It would be nice to get everybody back when we finally do. Our guys have a done a good job. We just have to do the best we can with what we have."

My daily list of Commodore articles from around the web is up. The bulk of today's entry deals with the men's basketball team's rout of Davidson. Also, I picked Huey Lewis to deliver the song of the day in honor of my return. Around the Web

With impressive nonconference wins over Marquette and Davidson, Vanderbilt's men's basketball team moved up two spots to No. 22 in the Associated Press rankings released today.

The Commodores (11-2) also entered the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll for the first time this season at No. 24.
Kentucky is the only other SEC team ranked at the moment (AP No. 10 / Coaches No. 11) with Florida and Georgia receiving votes.

Vanderbilt will open its SEC slate Saturday at South Carolina (4 p.m. CT, ESPN2).

Four former Commodores on the Chicago Bears -- wide receiver Earl Bennett, quarterback Jay Cutler, defensive back D.J. Moore, and left guard Chris Williams -- will finally get their first taste of the NFL Playoffs.

They'll also have a much-needed week off after finishing the grueling 17-week season atop the NFC North with an 11-5 record, good for second overall in the conference.

The Bears will open the playoffs against either Philadelphia, Seattle or New Orleans in Chicago on Sunday,
January 16 (12 p.m. CT, FOX).

It's been a remarkable regular season run for the Bears, who most predicted to finish behind Green Bay and Minnesota in the division.